In telecommunications networks, fraud detection applications exist to detect fraudulent calls. For example, some fraud detection applications include rules-based or artificial-intelligence-based algorithms for detecting the presence of telecommunications network fraud. Once fraud for a given call is detected, the fraud detection application may generate an alarm to the telecommunications network service provider. Another action performed by one conventional fraud detection application is to insert white noise on a voice channel associated with a fraudulent call to disrupt the fraudulent call. One problem with this fraud detection application is it requires probes on all of the voice trunks in a network to insert the white noise. Requiring probes on all of the voice trunks can be expensive in networks with large numbers of voice trunks.
Signaling-based access control applications can also be used to mitigate fraud in telecommunications networks. For example, one conventional signaling-based access control application screens call signaling messages and performs screening actions for the call signaling messages based on information provisioned in an access control database.
One problem with using conventional signaling-based access control applications to mitigate fraud is that these applications are unsuitable for detecting fraud in real time or near real time because the signaling-based access control databases are manually provisioned. That is, once a network operator learns of telecommunications network fraud, the network operator is required to manually provision the appropriate information in the signaling-based access control database to prevent future occurrences of the fraud. However, fraud may continue from the time that the fraud is detected to the time that the database is provisioned. In addition, manually provisioning the database is labor intensive.
Thus, in light of the difficulties associated with conventional fraud detection applications, there exists a need for improved methods for detecting and preventing fraud in telecommunications networks.